Chargers Vs. Chiefs: Five Predictions On The Game

We've got five predictions for tonight's Monday Night Football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers. One of those is a score prediction and, yes, I picked the Chiefs to win (as did the KC Star).

Chiefs win the turnover battle. Philip Rivers makes a mistake throwing a pick, as he's been prone to do in the early part of this season. Let's say Brandon Flowers gets one pick and the other turnover is Tamba Hali's forced fumble. Chiefs make a mistake, too, but win the turnover battle, 2-1.

Tamba Hali picks up a pair of sacks. He's been pressuring the quarterback somewhat consistently these past few weeks but hasn't been seeing the sacks. Hali hasn't recorded a sack since Week 4 against the Minnesota Vikings. He had two that day and, against a banged-up Marcus McNeill tonight, he gets another pair of sacks.

Jackie Battle gets at least 80 yards on the ground. That would be a productive day for Jackie Battle and I think he gets the vast majority of the carries tonight. He's productive for the third consecutive week.

Matt Cassel doesn't top 150 passing yards. I hope I'm wrong but history vs. the Chargers tells me Cassel won't be incredibly effective tonight. I'm thinking he ends up with something like 140 passing yards. As long as he doesn't turn the ball over, that might be enough to lead to a....

Chiefs win. You think I'd pick against the Chiefs now? KC wins the game, 24-20, and takes first place in the AFC West.